Connor McDavid’s start to the season has turned a wild idea into a real conversation.
Through 20 games, the Oilers captain has racked up 49 points and a +25 rating, numbers that feel more like a cheat code than a stat line. Edmonton is 14-3-3, its best opening through 20 games since the dynasty era in 1984, and McDavid has been the engine behind it all. At 29, he somehow looks like he’s still discovering another gear.
Teammate Mattias Ekholm recently pointed to what may have pushed McDavid into this kind of gear. Speaking with ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski, Ekholm said he didn’t think McDavid had another level left, but he also offered a blunt explanation for the surge:
“When you’re knocked out in the first round and you get punched in the nose a little bit, I think that can help with your mental space and your motivation. You reevaluate yourself in a bigger way when you lose in the first round than you maybe do in the finals, because you’re so close and you’re almost trying to find excuses as to why you didn’t go all the way.
There are no excuses for losing in the first round. So it’s just different.”
That first-round loss to the Anaheim Ducks clearly lingered. After back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Finals, Edmonton’s early exit hit hard, and the disappointment seems to have fueled the offseason.
The Oilers also got something else that matters: rest. Over the last three seasons, they’ve played more hockey than almost anyone in the league, and the Olympic tournament last season added more high-intensity games.
The year before that, the 4 Nations Face-Off did the same. McDavid himself was dealing with injuries during last year’s playoffs, so this season he arrived healthy and refreshed for what may be the first time in years.
That’s why the numbers have started to get absurd.
The question now floating around the league is whether McDavid can actually get to 200 points. It sounds outrageous, but NHL players are openly discussing it. Former Oilers forward Connor Brown, now with the New Jersey Devils, said he wasn’t stunned by the idea.
“I remember going to Edmonton a few years ago and I thought that was always in the cards.”
Devils forward Luke Evangelista was even more direct about what McDavid is doing right now.
“It seems so unrealistic, that number 200, but you look at what he’s done so far… if there’s anyone that’s going to do it, it’s him. He’s putting up video game numbers right now.
Like it’s on ‘easy mode.’ I literally can’t believe the start that he’s had.”
That’s the kind of reaction McDavid is drawing now: from teammates, from opponents, from around the league. And the pace is real enough to make the math worth watching.
He’s currently tracking toward 206 points, though that number was 212 just one game earlier. A cold stretch could change everything in a hurry. But nothing about this season has felt ordinary, especially with Leon Draisaitl producing at an elite level, Evan Bouchard adding offense from the blue line, and Edmonton’s top unit looking like a power play even at five-on-five.
A 200-point season has only happened four times in NHL history, and all four belonged to Wayne Gretzky. His 215-point season in 1985-86 still stands as one of the sport’s most staggering marks. If McDavid keeps this up, he could join a club that has belonged to Gretzky alone for more than 40 years.
That’s what makes this start so striking. It’s not just that McDavid is hot. It’s that he’s forcing a question hockey hasn’t had to ask in a very long time.
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Silaev is expected to make his NHL debut as part of that shuffle, with Vladislav Kolyachonok also in the mix after scoring the game-winning goal in a recent victory. For a Devils team already adjusting on the fly, the next stretch is less about ideal lineup planning than finding out which young defensemen can handle real minutes when the pressure arrives. [Read more 🡒]